This invention relates to removal of aquatic plants and weeds from lakes and other bodies of water with a lake rake on a drag line operated between two vehicles that are earth anchored.
This is an improvement over an apparatus and method for which U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,105 was granted to the same inventor on Dec. 24, 1991. The 1991 patent is highly suitable for many lake-clearing conditions. It is highly mobile and very suitable for many use: conditions where a rake end of a drag line is not accessible to a land vehicle or water vehicle that can be earth-anchored. However, it has been found from experience that many other lake-cleaning and channel-clearing conditions require a different apparatus and method in which opposite ends of a winch-operated drag line are both mounted to earth-anchored vehicles.
In these conditions, use of a boat to transport a distal end of a drag line to operate a lake rake is inadequate for a variety of reasons. Earth-anchoring of a vehicle operating the distal end of the drag line allows more accurate positioning of a take rake without hinderance by the aquatic weeds to be removed. The lake rake can be larger and heavier. Larger and heavier loads can be handled. Less time is consumed in moving a distal rake end of a drag line by using a winch on an earth-mounted vehicle than by propulsion of a boat to carry the distal rake end of the drag line. Less time is consumed for repositioning the lake rake directly with a winch than for repositioning the lake rake back onto a rake float and then propelling the rake float to reposition the lake rake. Regardless of faster mobility and setup of the 1991 device for many use conditions, the present apparatus and method are faster and more efficient for a variety of other use conditions.
In other prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 2,050,133, issued to Smith on Aug. 4, 1936, described a different type of drag-line lake tool with a different means for operating it between vehicles at opposite sides of a body of water. In the Smith device, a clam-like tool was hung from a trolley on a cable suspended between the vehicles on opposite shores of the body of water. The clam-like tool was then pulled back and forth between the two vehicles with a separate set of cables and winches.